[Birddog]

Check this out... More torque!

Ford to sell all-electric Transit cargo vans in the US

Ford is bringing an all-electric version of its best-selling cargo van to North America. The electric version of the Transit, which is currently available in gasoline- and diesel-powered versions, will be available in the United States and Canada in 2021.

www.cnn.com

What are your thoughts?? I want one. I wonder what the range will be on a charge?

 

[Sparky961]

Well that could make the "house" electrical system much easier... Probably prohibitively expensive though. You'd still be an early adopter, at least for vans.

 

[Birddog]

We'll find out soon enough... It is supposed to be released in Europe this year. We should have better specs by then. Electric will make your bill go up but it's still cheaper than buying gas. The biggest question is what the range will be. If it doesn't have a killer range like Tesla cars (around 280 miles) it may not be a hit.

 

[surly Bill]

Fleet vehicles for in-town delivery. Not going to be too popular for private use. Some contractors that refuse to work more than 10 miles from home might like these. Electricity is way cheaper than gas per mile, and there are a lot of places that have "free" charging while shopping or visiting. Go to the mall, see a movie, get a full charge in a couple hours. Or 80% charge in a half hour.

BUT, these are new and different, so they are BAD. Tell everyone you know that EVs are Satan's plaything and that they will destroy the country, make people Gay, and cause more pollution than gas and diesel vehicles.

 

[Birddog]

"BUT, these are new and different, so they are BAD. Tell everyone you know that EVs are Satan's plaything and that they will destroy the country, make people Gay, and cause more pollution than gas and diesel vehicles. "

Too funny!

 

[GotDiesel?]

It will be great for in-town deliveries and contractors. Reduced operating costs and less pollution. Not to mention the much lower cost of maintaining it with no tune ups, oil changes and the many mechanical systems that are part of current drivetrains.

I wouldn't want to try to drive from Albuquerque to Missoula in one though.

 

[GapRunr]

Add an aggressive regenerative braking profile to a fully loaded commercial van and these will be awesome for in town deliveries and loaded contractor vans that work in a small area. The severely reduced operating costs will be very attractive to many.

 

[whoam]

I want one with solar on the roof that charges the vehicle, that would be the ticket. Yes, it would be a very small amount but it feels good

 

[Birddog]

Many people have driven cross country in Tesla cars without issue. The range on a Tesla is in the area of high 200's to low 300's in mileage. By the time you've driven that far you need a break. While you charge your car you get a bite to eat or just rest and stretch the legs. The next thing you know is the vehicle if fully charged and you're ready to eat up some more road.

 

[phil]

This is starting in Europe because the some of the cities centers are starting to tax polluting vehicles. I doubt any tradesman in the US is going to paid a premium to go electric yet. Ford and others are rolling out electric vans in the UK.

 

[surly Bill]

It will be great for in-town deliveries and contractors. Reduced operating costs and less pollution. Not to mention the much lower cost of maintaining it with no tune ups, oil changes and the many mechanical systems that are part of current drivetrains.

I wouldn't want to try to drive from Albuquerque to Missoula in one though.

Oh yeah, another thing; many cities are banning gas/diesel powered vehicles in certain areas or during particular times of day. This is a growing trend. An EV Transit would still be able to get Big Gulp cups and potato chips to the stores in those places.

 

[surly Bill]

Add an aggressive regenerative braking profile to a fully loaded commercial van and these will be awesome for in town deliveries and loaded contractor vans that work in a small area. The severely reduced operating costs will be very attractive to many.

And drastically reduced maintenance/repair costs. Injectors, turbos, water/fuel/oil pumps, serpentine belts, etc and oil changes would be things of the past. I'm sure there would be NEW areas of maintenance/repair that we're not familiar with, though.

 

[Sprinter_Owner]

Well lets hope that Ford gets it right. A practical vehicle with practical range.

 

[GapRunr]

The severely reduced operating costs will be very attractive to many.

And drastically reduced maintenance/repair costs.

So.. is drastically even lower than severely? lol ?

 

[GapRunr]

Many people have driven cross country in Tesla cars without issue.

I've got a friend in the San Francisco Bay Area who did a clockwise circle of the US. Bay Area to Oregon, then to Vermont, then to Tennessee and back across the south to southern California and back home. When he got to me in TN he had traveled 8,000 miles and had zero vehicle related costs. He always used the Tesla chargers and he has free lifetime charging at those.

 

[Jacek]

And drastically reduced maintenance/repair costs. Injectors, turbos, water/fuel/oil pumps, serpentine belts, etc and oil changes would be things of the past. I'm sure there would be NEW areas of maintenance/repair that we're not familiar with, though.

EV batteries are very expensive to replace. A friend had a Prius for several years that he replaced with a Corolla because of the cost of batteries and other electronic issues.

 

[Dake]

Difficult to imagine Ford engineering an electric Transit when they can’t even figure out a switch to turn off the cargo lights, an appropriate swivel seat wiring harness location, protecting the ECM wiring connector from water, and an actual sync audio system that works consistently. Maybe they’ll place the batteries on the roof?

 

[sportcoupe]

EV batteries are very expensive to replace. A friend had a Prius for several years that he replaced with a Corolla because of the cost of batteries and other electronic issues.

I had a 2nd gen Prius, it did not have lithium batteries nor was it an EV vehicle. The small nickel cadmium battery had 28 cells, a simple voltage check could identify a failed cell and was $35 to replace. Time to replace a module was 1 hour, 2 hours if you work slow.

Why did I quote and respond? Because there are so many misconceptions on Prius. People spreading "facts" that are so far from the truth they don't even know it.

 

[Vanpackr]

I believe electrification and automation of vehicles is about a post ownership era where transportation and delivery are services. Obviously Ford is interested in supplying vehicles to those kinds of services in the future. There will be human driven fossil fueled vehicles moving forward but they will be more costly per mile to operate and limited to use cases willing to pay for them.

 

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More reason NOT to get your Transit order processed on a gas version since the plant would be cranking out all of these ELECTRIC VANS back-to-back for the FLEET customer so the regular retail customer would be pushed out getting their van. That is actually happening now with customer orders being held up for the many fleet orders that we can see sitting at the holding lots and rail yard now.